VA - Soul City Los Angeles: West Coast Gems from the Dawn of Soul Music (2014)

Soul City Los Angeles presents recordings which served to establish the musical direction of LA and neighbouring West Coast conurbations in the late 1950s and early 1960s when R&B was evolving into the style that became known as soul. Compiled and annotated by soul music authority Clive Richardson, Soul City Los Angeles is the latest in a series that has previously explored the nascent soul scenes in Detroit, New York and Chicago. This instalment presents a selection from key independent labels of the area, including Sam Cooke s SAR and Richard Vaughn s Arvee, as well as choice items from Aladdin, Liberty, Imperial and Ebb, and collectable releases from more obscure imprints. Famous names on CD1 of this 60-track 2CD set include the Olympics, the Valentinos (aka the Womack Brothers) with Lookin For A Love , the Rivingtons with Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow , and Johnnie Morisette with Meet Me At The Twistin Place , while CD2 features Ko Ko Mo hitmakers Gene & Eunice, both sides of a 1962 single on Rush by Don & Dewey, early recordings by future stars Johnnie Taylor and Johnny Guitar Watson, and a young Sly Stone as a member of the Viscaynes. Soul fans of the early 1960s could often figure out the geographic origins of new singles as much by the sound as by any knowledge of sometimes obscure artists and labels, with the output of West Coast studios tending to have a harder sound in comparison with some more sophisticated (for the era) productions from the opposite coast or the regions of the Great Lakes. Here we have music from the formative period of the soul era in Los Angeles. Also available as 2LP vinyl collectors edition, featuring 28 of the most sought-after tracks and colour insert.